Good, Bad and Ugly ft. Graeme Smith, Newcastle’s Saudi takeover and the never-ending Indo-Pak spat
SportsCafe
If you think listening to Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ is the only feasible solution to remembering what day of the week it is, you’re wrong. A warm and sunny Sunday afternoon is never complete without SportsCafe’s ‘Good, Bad and Ugly’, and so we’re back again with your favourite weekend article.
The Good
Cricket South Africa (CSA) extend Graeme Smith’s tenure until 2022
Cricket South Africa (CSA), on Friday, confirmed that they will be extending former skipper Graeme Smith’s tenure as the Director of Cricket until 2022, after appointing him on a three-month interim basis in December. Given the internal politics within CSA, over the past four months or so, has been as rotten as it can get, this indeed is a welcome move and, of course, a step in the right direction. Unsurprisingly, results have not quite gone Smith’s way since he’s taken over, but there has been enough evidence in these past three months to suggest that he just might be the right man to take South Africa forward. Patience, leadership and trust are what South African team need to move forward and albeit this being a baby step, it’s commendable. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I-League’s safety over money approach
Mohun Bagan, the runaway leaders who were 16 points clear of their rivals East Bengal, on Saturday, were declared the I-League champions with 28 matches left to play in the league. Declaring the season null and void was never going to be an option, for the Bagan fans would have riot - and rightly so - but it’s heartwarming to see sanity prevail and also see AIFF (All India Football Federation) take a stand for what’s right. Not like the I-League generates a great deal of revenue anyway, but financially, playing matches is any day better than cancelling them, and thus deciding to call off the league with a fair chunk left to play is a pretty bold move. Does tell you that they genuinely care about the players, after all. Despite the mess that Indian Football is, behind the scenes. That the three bottom-placed teams were exempt from relegation is also a welcome move from the Federation.
The Bad
Newcastle United’s Saudi takeover
Yayyyyy Newcastle fans, it looks like you might finally be seeing the back of Mike Ashley! Yayyyy Newcastle fans, your new owner, Mohammed bin Salman, Prince of Saudi Arabia, is over 20 times richer than Man City’s owners. Yayyy Newcastle fans, your club might see ascendancy to the top once again and might very well be competing for Domestic and European titles within the blink of an eye. But...but...at what cost, though? Mike Ashley has watched the club burn and him leaving is a blessing, no doubt, but if reports are anything to go by, his tenure is set to be taken over by a man who has blood on his hands. Is Blood Money the need of the hour, or have we stooped to a level where as long as we’re given what we like, we just turn a blind eye to what goes on off the field? Oliver Holt’s quote sums up the situation perfectly, “That may be the true poison of Ashley's legacy: Newcastle fans are so desperate to see the back of him they do not care what comes next.” Now that it’s clear that there will be complications off the field, guess the least we can hope for is Newcastle, on the field, bringing back the glory days of the past that is now well and truly buried.
Cut out your double-standards, ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) at times are unfathomable. It is almost as if they wake up one fine morning and decide, “Right, we’re going to do this.” On Wednesday, they declared that they were going to split points for the cancelled ODI series between India Women and Pakistan Women, meaning the Women in Blue sealed direct qualification for the 2021 ODI World Cup. But on what basis were the points split, and how is that fair on Pakistan’s part? It was the BCCI who refused to host Pakistan citing ‘political tension’ as the reason for not being able to do so, yet when a similar situation arose back in 2016, Pakistan were awarded full points. The BCCI writing to the ICC and establishing “acceptable reasons” (i.e. No Government permission) is said to be why ICC went ahead with the decision. But why should Pakistan suffer for it? Given it was the BCCI’s responsibility to host the series, it’s harsh and unjust on the ICC’s part to deny Pakistan full points. After all, the series could easily have been played at a neutral venue. This has now denied Pakistan Women a chance to seal direct qualification and boy they have every reason to feel absolutely aggrieved about it.
The Ugly
The Never-ending India-Pakistan spat
Not going to deny, it kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach that India and Pakistan (be it the boards or former cricketers) feel the need to continue taking shots at each other, despite the world being in the midst of a pandemic. Shoaib Akhtar, last week, made a pretty harmless statement that should ideally have been either embraced or let go, yet Kapil Dev’s ego had to butt in, and he HAD to let the world know how financially superior the BCCI were. Ehsan Mani is asked questions about the Asia Cup, yet he HAS to keep mocking India and the BCCI and keep slyly suggesting how the PCB are financially stable despite not playing against India. And then you have Gambhir, who is morally butchering Shahid Afridi off the field because - hey, that’s what he likes to do to portray himself as a patriot. Seriously, can all these people grow up?
Turkmenistan restart Football matches - with crowds
The National Football Federation in Turkmenistan, last month, suspended its domestic league following WHO’s recommendations, but now the country has confirmed that it is going to restart Football, and that too with fans. Now, Turkmenistan has not yet ‘registered’ a single case of the coronavirus, but there have been genuine fears that the government has been downplaying the threat and hiding facts. And that could very well be the case. I mean, come on, there have been COVID-19 cases traced in remote tribal areas. The ignorance and irresponsibility of these authoritative figures is simply staggering, though. Earlier this month, it was established how the Atalanta vs Valencia match in Italy turned out to be a ‘biological COVID-19 bomb’, with over 40,000 people reportedly being affected by it, and yet in under a month, you have Federations that are willing to risk the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for entertainment. Oh and then you also have Belarus running its Football league WITH FANS, despite the country registering over 4,000 COVID-19 cases. Well, only the almighty knows where this is all going to end up.
